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RIBA facing half a million pounds shortfall

The RIBA is £500,000 in the red due in part to increased expenditure and a fall in income from events bookings this year

A spokesperson for the institute said it was currently running £250,000 behind budget with an extra £230,000 of new expenditure identified.

In addition a further £722,000 of institute reserves is ring-fenced for planned expenditure.

Contributing to the losses are a £388,000 shortfall in income from bookings of the Portland Place venue for events and weddings, due in part to the Olympics, and a £113,000 hit due to the Tuesday Lates Programme and loss of rental income in the North West Region.

The shortfall was met with concern by council members when it emerged at a meeting of RIBA Council last week.

Honorary treasurer Owen O’Carroll said at the meeting: ‘We have heard that there is not much gas in the tank, words like running on air, running ahead of budget, this is an indicator of what is happening here.

‘People that use the type of venue we are offering are suffering. Given it’s around 25 per cent of our overall income it’s a serious matter.’

Later, Andrew Munro, the chief financial officer said: ‘The figure we are looking at is just under £500,000. If we take on board the important initiatives that colleagues have got we are looking at [a] variance of budget from end of year at around £500,000 if we don’t do anything further to pull that number back.’

Past president Owen Luder said: ‘£500,000 on top of £700,000 use of reserves, in the end it’s the bottom line figure which is £1.25 million and that is worrying.’

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